Friday, April 29, 2011

Our Easter celebrations

You all know I'm a little health conscious, but I still believe in celebrating, and even in celebrating with food. I just try to celebrate with foods that aren't so damaging. This years Easter was the best. It really was. And it was the best because we spent the whole week before Easter, beginning with Palm Sunday, doing devotionals each night where we went through the scriptures and talked about what Christ did during that week before his resurrection since we have it all recorded in the Bible. Scott and I loved doing it and the kids loved doing it. I loved that each night after dinner we got to spend a good amount of time together speaking of Christ and learning of Christ. It brought such a nice spirit into our home.

We also did some typical Easter activities like dying eggs(we ate most of them before Easter) and attending an Easter egg hunt. The Easter egg hunt was at a local grocery store and I knew from previous years that this particular grocery store doesn't only have candy, but they have produce and toys as well. I advised the children to go for the non-sugar items and reminded them that their Mom is not at all averse to throwing candy and other junk foods away...this is something I do fairly often because they sometimes come home with junk from church or school, especially on holidays. They came home with stickers, a jump rope, bubbles some fruit, and some candy items. I let them pick out one piece of candy and then we tossed the rest, which wasn't much. They were smart.

We had Easter baskets on Sunday morning, though next year we may have those on Saturday instead just to be sure that the focus on Easter is actually on our Savior and His resurrection rather than on the gifts in their Easter baskets. The kids woke up Sunday morning and did their traditional scavenger hunt in order to find where their baskets were hidden. I don't know why they love doing that so much, but they do, so we always put one together. After the baskets we ate german pancakes...Elisabeth asked that I cut them into egg shapes, so we did that too.

The kids got more this year than in the past, partly because their great aunt gave them each an Easter bag full of goodies. In our Easter baskets were a few 'treats' that I got from a whole foods store like 100% fruit juice sweetened fruit snacks. I also bought festive Easter goody bags and put a couple in each basket that had things like bunny grahams(I also got those from the health food store, which are sweetened with honey) which was one of their favorites, and the baked cheetos, and a couple of boxes of 100% fruit juice. As for non food items they each got something to use in the garden that I found in the dollar bins at Target, some festive pads of paper and bubbles, also from the dollar bins and then we have a tradition that we give them something they can use for entertainment on Sunday since we don't allow media on Sunday that is not Christ centered. Last year they got an animated dvd called, He Is Risen. This year for Easter we got the family, 'Esther and the King' which is a Liken film. The Liken store also had their cd's on sale for $4 a piece so we put one in each of their baskets and that was their big gift. We all love the Liken films. They are scripture stories with singing and dancing and with a modern day application. My kids loved getting the soundtracks because they already knew all the songs and could sing along. Here is a short clip of Annabelle doing a dance to this Laman and Lemuel rap song :). This is not my favorite song, but here you go:

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Hi, I'm Elisa and this is my blog. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka Mormon), I've been happily married to my best friend for 12 years and together we have 5 wonderful children ages 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. I am grateful to be alive and I am grateful for all of our many blessings; three very important ones I've mentioned above.

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"Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." -President Gordon B. Hinckley(15th Latter Day Prophet) quoting Jenkin Loyd Jones

"In his strength I can do all things"-Alma 26:12"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." -Philippians 4:13

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